


Love

by madbutterfly



Category: Being Human (UK), The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, commitment issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4528449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madbutterfly/pseuds/madbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mitchell is in love, Anders... runs. Now what?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love

Mitchell had been sitting on the couch for the past hour now, head in his hands, staring fixedly at the floor and cursing himself.

He’d been with Anders for just short of a year now, and honestly it hadn’t occurred to him that the idea of commitment might still freak the god out. The  _I love you_  had felt natural, he hadn’t even thought about it when he’d murmured it against Anders’ lips in the heat of the moment, but as soon as it was out of his mouth, Anders’ head had shot back, his eyes wide and expression stiff.

Mitchell had hesitantly apologised, not really understanding what he’d done wrong, but Anders just shook his head, marched to the door, paused briefly to put his shoes on and left. Mitchell wished he’d thought to follow, but he’d been so shocked and hurt that he’d just stood there, frozen to the spot.

The fact that they’d been together for almost a year and were living together meant that Mitchell had assumed they were… well, committed to each other already. He’d known for a long time that he was in love with Anders, and he was also aware that he shouldn’t push things too fast.

But Jesus, how was saying  _I love you_  after almost a year going too fast?

Maybe Anders just didn’t love him back. That wouldn’t entirely surprise him. He’d done terrible things in his life. Being together didn’t guarantee love, though Mitchell had been sure he’d seen it in Anders’ eyes when they were alone together.

He huffed out a heavy, angry breath and lifted his head a little. He scrubbed a hand across his eyes and wondered what he should do next. Was Anders hoping he’d take the hint and get his stuff and leave? He didn’t want to do that, and besides, he didn’t have anywhere else to stay. He might be able to go to Dawn and Ty’s for a day or two, but they had the kids to look after and certainly didn’t need Mitchell hanging around and getting in the way.

What he really wanted to do was go back in time and stop himself from saying anything at all, or at least for Anders to come back so they could talk.

After twenty more minutes of Mitchell thinking over what he was supposed to do now, the front door creaked open slowly. Mitchell didn’t look around, afraid to see the expression on Anders’ face. What if he really did want Mitchell to leave? What if this was it?

What if Mitchell had messed up one of the best things that had ever happened to him? He didn’t even want to think about it (which was unfortunate, as that’s all he’d been thinking about since the moment Anders walked out the door around ninety minutes ago).

“…John?” Anders said quietly from the door.

Mitchell squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for whatever was to come next.

_Why are you still here?_

_I think you should go._

_It’s over_.

_What did you think we were?_

“I’m really sorry.”

Mitchell didn’t open his eyes. That didn’t mean anything.  _I’m really sorry, but…?_

Anders didn’t say anything further, apparently waiting for Mitchell to respond, so the vampire turned around on the sofa to face him. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. He just looked sad.

“Sorry?” Mitchell said, clearing his throat when it came out a little raspy.

“For… for running off like that. You just caught me off guard.”

“Yeah, I gathered,” replied Mitchell. “Do you want me to go?”

“What? No! No, please stay,” Anders said quickly, frowning and making his way over to the couch, sitting on it sideways to face Mitchell with one leg tucked underneath him. “No, no, I’m sorry, I really am. I just… I’m not used to this. Relationships. You know?” He chewed on his lip for a moment, before looking away and sighing heavily. “I fucked up, didn’t I?”

Mitchell didn’t respond for a moment, and then rolled his eyes and finally let himself relax. “Yeah, you really did. I’m sorry for freaking you out or whatever that was, but… I’m hardly going too fast, am I? I thought you loved me too.”

“…I do. And I’m sorry if running off made you think I didn’t, I just… that’s not something I’ve ever really done before. Every other relationship I’ve had, it’s either never gotten to this point or was never the  _love_  kind of relationship in the first place. Acknowledging that it’s what I felt was one thing, actually saying it out loud… another thing entirely.” Anders fidgeted. “But yeah, I do. You.”

Mitchell smiled slightly. “Still can’t say it?”

Anders gave a shaky smile in return when he saw Mitchell’s. “Are you angry?”

“No. Confused. Definitely frustrated. But not angry. I’m not going to push you to say anything you’re not comfortable with,” Mitchell said and let out a sigh.

Anders clenched his jaw and his entire body quivered just slightly before he said, a little stiffly, “I love you.”

Mitchell smiled properly now. “And I love you too. Was that so hard?”

“Not as hard as I thought it’d be,” Anders said and gave a tiny, slightly hysterical laugh. “Shit. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I really don’t.”

“Well, we’ve both got our issues,” Mitchell shrugged, a lightness to his voice that he didn’t really feel. “Where were you all this time, anyway?”

“Hmm… first I was just wandering around, and then I ended up at Mike’s bar and got bullied into coming back here by Olaf.” Anders smiled sheepishly. “I think he would’ve forcibly dragged me back here himself if I hadn’t agreed. He’s probably going to be round later to make sure I didn’t fuck up even more.”

“That won’t be a problem, right? Considering that you  _didn’t_  fuck up even more.”

Anders nodded, rubbing one arm uneasily. “I really am sorry, Mitchell. I shouldn’t have done that, it was really unfair of me.”

“Well… maybe. But you’re back here now. You’ve apologised. We can go back to normal now, right?”

“We can? We can just forget this ever happened?”

“I will if you will.”

Anders’ eyes glittered slightly. “Well, in that case…” He stood up and gave Mitchell the first proper smile since he’d entered the house again. “I’ll be in the bedroom. You have five minutes before I start without you.”

Mitchell laughed and flopped back against the couch, saying, “Of course that’s your definition of going back to normal,” but Anders was already opening the door to their bedroom and didn’t offer any reply.

* * *

Olaf did in fact stop by later to make sure everything had gone smoothly, but no matter how many times he knocked at the door, they were a little too distracted with other matters to pay any attention.


End file.
